Jesse

Do you recall old Jesse From a dozen years ago? He worked here over thirty years 'Til we had to let him go He came around after the war With that big old sloppy grin He knew horses, he knew cattle He knew how to handle men Said he had no home or family Not a thing to call his own And after thirty years this ranch of ours Was the only home he'd known Yeah, I knew that you'd remember But you never saw him in his prime Never watched him on a cutting horse Or break that big old roan of mine Do you recall that he got so stove up? He wasn't worth a dime Still Dad kept him on the rolls And after Dad died so did I Whiskey helped him through the pain But it took the man we'd known So we found a place in town for him To whip it on his own But when autumn came he rode away Without a word to anyone Just rode off on his rangy bay Into the setting sun And no one's heard a word from him At least until today What I'm getting at is Jesse's back A-sleeping in the hay He's nothing but a bag of bones Why a breeze'd knock him down He's ashamed to come up to the house Have you seen him so run down? So honey, could you heat him up Some pot roast and some rolls? Then we'll welcome him on back To the only home he's known He said the saddest thing to me Said "Don't matter where you roam When the time comes up to cash 'em in A man ought to die at home And when I brought his supper to the barn Jess was cold and still and I Knew that somewhere he was satisfied For he just came home to die